Individuals with chronic conditions such as diabetes, obesity and hypertension must incorporate new health behaviors into their lifestyles in order to successfully manage their condition. These behaviors can include new medications, diet, increased exercise, and other significant lifestyle changes. We are interested in using socially assistive robots to improve the management of these conditions through long-term encouragement, instruction and monitoring. A robot can serve as an in-home extension of a doctor or nurse's care to ensure that patients are developing and maintaining healthy habits.
Individual project pages

The growing aging population is increasing the demand for healthcare services worldwide. By the year 2050, the number of people over the age of 85 will increase five-fold, while the shortfall of nurses and caregivers is already an issue. Regular physical exercise has been shown to be effective at maintaining and improving the overall health of elderly individuals. Social interaction, and specifically high perceived interpersonal social support, has also been shown to have a positive impact on general mental and physical wellbeing, in addition to reducing the likelihood of depression. Thus, the availability of physical exercise therapy, social interaction, and companionship will be critical for the growing elderly population; socially assistive robotics (SAR) has the potential to help to address this need.

Over 800,000 people a year suffer from stroke in the United States alone. Up to half continue living with a hemiparesis, or other partial paralysis. It is known that continued, intense, motor practice can lead to motor and cognitive improvements in this population; however, the required amount and intensity of rehabilitation is not provided by the existing standard of care. Socially assistive robotics provide ideal platforms for assessments and interventions necessary to help this population, and other with motor deficits. Our projects have investigated how these individual factors influence actual and perceived performance in therapeutic settings, with a focus on tasks modeled on activities of daily living.

Autism is a common and often debilitating developmental disorder affecting between one in 80 and one in 240 children in the United States. The use of robotic systems is a promising technological possibility for enhancing the often-intensive therapy these children require. Anecdotal evidence and case studies suggest that not only are robots highly salient to children with autism, but that those children may exhibit social behaviors with robots that they do not otherwise use. A number of research groups (including our own) have used robots with children with autism. Our research focuses on augmenting existing therapies using SAR (Socially Assistive Robotics), extending and enriching care from a human therapist while recognizing the critical importance of maintaining and improving human-directed social behaviors in these children.

We are currently exploring the use of assistive agents to aid in cognitive rehabilitation. 1.4 million people, including 11,000 service members, sustain a traumatic brain injury (TBI) each year. As a result of such injuries, patients experiments emotional and motivational problems during the rehabilitation process. We can take advantage of social agents to help motivate the patients to engage in therapy, both at home and the clinic. By recognizing the state and performance of individuals, these agents can help increase the engagement, encourage compliance, and improve rehabilitation outcomes.